On Monday, an LRA spokesman said Kony and his top commanders had survived bomb raids on their bases. He said Kony was calling for peace talks to be relaunched with a new mediator.

Kony and two of his deputies have been indicted by the International Criminal Court in The Hague for war crimes allegedly committed during a two-decade war that has killed thousands of people and displaced about two million more.

The LRA is infamous for kidnapping women and using children as fighters.